There is established the State Small Business Credit Initiative, to be administered by the Secretary. Under the Program, the Secretary shall allocate Federal funds to participating States and make the allocated funds available to the participating States as provided in this section for the uses described in this section.
With respect to States other than Tribal governments, the Secretary shall determine the 2021 allocation by allocating Federal funds among the States in the proportion that each such State’s 2020 State employment decline bears to the aggregate of the 2020 State employment declines for all States.
With respect to States that are Tribal governments, the Secretary shall determine the 2021 allocation by allocating $500,000,000 among the Tribal governments in the proportion the Secretary determines appropriate, including with consideration to available employment and economic data regarding each such Tribal government.
If the Secretary determines that employment data with respect to a State is unavailable from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor, the Secretary shall consider such other economic and employment data that is otherwise available for purposes of determining the employment data of such State.
The Inspector General of the Department of the Treasury shall carry out an audit of the participating State’s use of allocated Federal funds transferred to the State.
The allocation agreement between the Secretary and the participating State shall provide that the Secretary shall recoup any allocated Federal funds transferred to the participating State if the results of the an audit include a finding that there was an intentional or reckless misuse of transferred funds by the State.
Any participating State that is found to have intentionally misstated any report issued to the Secretary under the Program shall be ineligible to receive any additional funds under the Program. Funds that had been allocated or that would otherwise have been allocated to such participating State shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury for reduction of the public debt.
In this subparagraph, the term “participating State” shall include a municipality given special permission to participate in the Program, under section 5703(d) of this title.
The Secretary may, in the Secretary’s discretion, transfer the full amount of the participating State’s allocated amount to the State in a single transfer if the participating State applies to the Secretary for approval to use the full amount of the allocation as collateral for a qualifying loan or swap funding facility.
Each amount transferred to a participating State under this section shall remain available to the State until used by the State as permitted under paragraph (3).
Any amount deemed by the Secretary to be no longer allocated to a State and no longer available to such State under subparagraph (A) may be reallocated by the Secretary to other participating States. In making such a reallocation, the Secretary shall not take into account the minimum allocation requirements under subsection (b)(2)(B) or the specific allocation for Tribal governments described under subsection (b)(2)(C).
The amounts transferred to a participating State under this section shall not be considered assistance for purposes of subtitle V of title 31.
Of the amounts appropriated for fiscal year 2021 to carry out the Program, the Secretary shall set aside $1,000,000,000 for an incentive program under which the Secretary shall increase the second ⅓ and last ⅓ allocations for States that demonstrate robust support, as determined by the Secretary, for business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in the deployment of prior allocation amounts.
Of the amounts appropriated to carry out the Program, the Secretary shall allocate not less than $500,000,000 to States from funds allocated under this section to be expended for very small businesses.